Fire-escape



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

Patented Maf. 26, 1895.

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E. W. POTTS.

PIRE ESCAPE.

(No Model.)

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- E. W.. POTTS.

FIRE ESCAPE. No. 536,232.. l Patented Mar. 26, 1895.

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' UNITED- -STAJTES f PATENT OFFICE. f

ELIJAH W. POTTS, VOF WYANDOT'IE, MICHIGAN.

'Hula-ESCAPEl SPECIFICATION forming part lof Letters Patent No. 536,232, dated March 26, 1895.

' j Application tiled April 23, 1894. Sen'al No. 508,589- (No model.)'

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELIJAH W. POTTS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Wyandotte, in the county of Wayne, State of Michigan, have invented certain' new `and useful Improvements iu Fire-Escapes; and I do declarethe following to be a full, clear, and exact description ot' the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it apro pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, `and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

' This invention relates to new and useful irnprovements in tire escapes, and consists in a certain construction and arrangement of parts as hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out particularly in the claims. i

The object of the invention is to provide a 2o fire escape ladder, which shall be so mounted on the building as to be movable from place to place thereon, enabling it to serve all the windows on one side and end of the building, orupon all sides thereof, if desired, and in z 5 which the arrangement is such that said ladder may be manipulated from the windows of the building as well as4 from the ground:

This object is attained by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in

3 o Whichl Figure 1 is a general perspectlve v1e W, showv ing a building with my improved nre-escape mounted thereon. Fig. 2 is au enlarged side f `elevation of the ladder, the building and the 3 5 supporting track being'in section.

said track shall projectthe -proper distanc from the building.

B designates the frame of a truck or carriage,'between the opposite sides of which are journaled the wheels B having peripheral 5o grooves therein that receive the upper edge of said track upon which said wheelsare adapted to travel. Depending from said carriage is a hanger b, in which is journaled awheel b hav- Aels upon the track A. y Y

To provide for operating the ladder from ing a peripheral groove that receives the under edge of saidtrack, whereby the carriage is 5 5 securely retained in place upon the trackand its transporting wheels B are prevented' from being raised and disengaged therefrom. The

opposedsides of the carriage meet beyond the periphery of the wheels B at each end and are 6o formed into projecting journals c, as clearly shown in Fig. 4,`upon which the upper curved ends of the side rails C of the laddervare pivoted on a plane with the horizontal axis of said wheels, said curved portions of the ladder be- .ing braced bythe oblique brace rods d which extend from the vert/ical portion of the ladder to the outer ends of said journals c on the carriage, and are secured by the nuts c which also serve to retain the ends of the ladder upon' 7.o ,y

said journals.

The ladder depends frgm the carriage-parallelV with the face of the building vand by means of the outward curve at the upper end,

is made to stand away from the building sutliciently to clear any ordinary projection but at the same time to be in easy reach from any one of the windows and enables a descent tobe made upon the inner side of the ladder adjacent to the building. The lower end of the -8o ladder is held from swinging inward by means of the curved arms f attached tothe sides .thereof which curve inwardly'and carry at their free ends the rollers f adapted to bear against the face of the building.

By pivoting the ladder to the carriage at a point aboverthe' track and ona line with the vertical centethereof, a straight downward pull is always exerted upon the carriage in linewith its point of bearing, thereby eu- 9o abling the lower end of the ladder to be swung outward or inward without cramping the j wheels of the carriage upon the track and interfering with the free horizontal movement of the ladder. f In applying this improved fire-escape lad\ der tov buildings of ordinary height,fit will be made in one section, as shown in Fig. 1, and will depend so that its lower end may be easily reached by a person standing upon the ground, rc o to enable the ladder to be moved back and forth across the face of the building from this point, to bring it beforeany of ythe windows therein. The carriage in this operation travthe windows of the building, there is emf ployed an endless cable D i which l passes throughthe four pulley-blocks D,`as shown in Fig. l, and re-crosses the face of the building just below the sills of the horizontal rows of windows, in such position that said cable maybe grasped from anyone of said windows and drawn upon to bring the ladder, which is attached thereto, to any desired window, thus enablingthe occupants of the buildingto draw the ladder to the window ot' the room in which -they may be confined without assistance from the outside, in case of necessity.

The ladder is detachably coupled to the cable D, by means of two inwardly curved arms E, having the forks h at their inmner ends in which said cable is adapted to lie and which engage thebulbs e thereon as the cable is drawn along, thereby causing the ladder to move with said cable. Said forked arms E are mounted on the ends of a rock-shaft F which passes through and is journaled in the round F of the ladder, as shown in Fig..3, and projecting from the end of said shaft is an arm h to which is attached a wire rope G,

that extends downward to the bottom of the` said cable.

In cases where there is unusual weight upon the. ladder, or, if, for any other reason it is found difficult to shift by grasping the lower end thereof, a cable H is employed which is.. attached to a sliding ringe' mounted on the upper round H of the ladder, which extends` downward by the side of the ladder and is` coiledat the bottom thereof, as shown in Fig.v

l. By means of this cablea direct pull inthe` direction in which it is desired tomove the ladder may be exerted upon the carriage to convey it along the track.

It is intended that. the ladder shall ordinarily be operated from the ground by the firemen, who will disengage it from the cable `D and move it from place to place upon the building where its service is needed. Should` a person desire todescend from a window of the building, the ladder is moved solas to stand directly infront ofsaid window so that the person may readily step from the window to the ladder and descend upon the inner side thereof to the ground. Incase there should be fire bursting from the windows directly below the one from which the person is taken, the ladder is moved to one side so that the fire is avoided in the descent.

As shown in Fig. 1, the track may be made to extend around the corners of thebuild` ing so that one ladder may be made to serve two or more sidesof the building, if found expedient-,the dotted lines inl said ligure showing theladder moved from the side to the front of the building.

In applying this improved device to buildings of great height, in order to facilitate the movement thereof, the ladder is made in two or more sections, which are so arranged that they may be brought into alignment to form a continuous ladder to the ground.

This device is simple and may be cheaply constructed, and possesses a great advantage over any fixed escape by reason of its movable feature, whereby it is rendered accessible from any window in the buildin". It will also serve as a means to enable the firemen to more readily iight the tire, for when stationed upon said `ladder they will be able to throw a stream of water into any of the windows of the building.

I-Iavingthus yfully set forth my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is-

1. In a fireescape, the combination of the track mounted on the building, the carriage havingtransporting wheelsv mounted on said track, the depending ladder having the side rails curved outwardly at their upper ends, said curved ends of the side rails being piv oted to said carriage above the track in vertical line therewith and on a plane with the horizontal axis of the carriage wheels.

2. In a tire escape, the'combination of the track mounted on the building, the carriage consisting of the opposed sides between which are pivotcd the transporting wheels, said sides meeting beyond the periphery of said wheels and forming horizontal journals extending in line i with said track, the depending ladder having the side rails curved outwardly at their upper ends and which are pivotcd to thejournais on said carriage.

3.111 a `fire escape, the combination of the track mounted ou the building, the movable carriageon said track, the depending ladder having the side rails the upper ends of which are curved outwardly from the building and pivotally coupled to'said carriage.

Lt. In a ireescape, the combination of the elevated track secured tothe building, the movable carriage upon said track, the ladder dependingrfrom said carriage and having the projecting forked arms, the endless cable on the buildingengaged bysaidarms, substantially as set forth.

5. In a tire-escape, the combination of the suspended movable ladder depending adjacent to the face of the building, the movable endless cable mounted on the building, and

the pivotcd arms carried by said ladder detachably engaging said cable. In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses. ELIJAH W. POTTS.

Witnesses:

CssIUs HoLLENBEcK,

E. S. WHEELER IOO IIO 

